The Civil War gave a great impetus to the industry. Manufacturers lost their Southern trade, but secured large government contracts, and many new factones were started to supply army uniforms. Sizes of clothing were stand ardized by measurements that the government furnished, and these measurements were used in malcing clothing for civilians after the war. The requirements of the soldiers who returned to civil life in 1865, the re-establishment of Southern trade, the increase of immigration and the very rapid development of the West led to a large expansion of the industry. In the seventies and eighties small merchants, clerks, teachers and men of other classes, who wished to wear clothes of good appearance but could not afford to patronize custom tailors, began to buy factory-made clothing. Only a few factories now make separate trousers, the demand being for suits of the same material. Formerly manufacturers sold mostly to jobbers, but now nearly the whole output is sold directly to retailers. By 1907 tailor-to-the-trade houses were established. They make suits from meas urements forwarded by merchants whose cus tomers have made selection from swatch samples and stylebooks. Mail order houses sell both ready-made clothing and made to order suits.
The industry could not have grown to its present magnitude without the invention of many labor-saving machines and devices. Pro duction wasgreatly increased by the sewing machine, which, patented by Howe in 1846, was introduced in this industry about 1850. By 1855 10 important improvements were patented, for making chain or lock stitches, with two or more threads, and one for working button holes. The speed, 800 to 900 stitches a minute, was about doubled when mechanical power was applied, and by 1900 was increased to 4,000 stitches per minute. There are now special machines or attachments for serging, felling, binding, seaming, seam-closing, two-row stitch ing, blind stitching, canvas front making, collar and lapel padding, sleeve inserting, button hol ing and button sewing. While most opera tions formerly done by hand are now done by i machines, hand work is still considerably em ployed in felling and some other operations on the better grades of factory product. The first tool besides shears for cutting was a long knife, which, introduced about 1870, is still used for cheap garments. Pushed up and down through a slot in a table, it cuts many layers of cloth. The first power cutting machine, introduced in 1872, had a reciprocating blade, and soon after ward a belt cutter was invented. Machines, elec trically operated, that could be pushed about the cutting table to follow pattern marks, were introduced in 1892. One variety with a circular knife cuts a maximum of three inches of cloth, and one with a reciprocating knife cuts six to eight inches. Shears are still used for cutting the better grades of clothing. In large factories linings are laid on the cutting table by an auto matic laying machine. Ordinary irons were formerly used for pressing and still are for coats of the better grades. Irons heated from within by gas from a rubber tube were intro duced about 1903, and pressing machines about the same time. A machine operated by a pedal was followed by a more powerful machine operated by steam.
Still another important factor in the devel opment of the industry has been the adoption of more efficient methods of manufacturing. Be fore the Civil War, one worker usually made an entire garment by hand or by hand and machine. After factories were enlarged to make army uniforms subdivision of labor was introduced.
The work has been divided more and more, so that now the operations in making a coat num ber from 30 to 60 or more. This subdivision, by which each worker does only one small sep arate operation, permits the employment of less skilled labor, and thus increases, as well as cheapens, production. Only by a minute sub division could manufacturers have utilized the hordes of unskilled immigrants after 1880.
Before, during and after the Civil War, the making of garments after cutting was largely done under the contract system and the work ers were employed for long hours at low pay. For 10 years after 1882, when large numbers of Russian Jews entered the industry, sanitary conditions in the shops were at their worst. Immigrants slept, cooked, .ate and worked in small, dirty, foul-smelling rooms, without ade quate ventilation or sanitary requisites. These places were usually called sweat-shops. The evils of such conditions were remedied in New York city, the most congested clothing centre, by the Tenement House Act of 1892, which prohibited contractors from manufacturing in their homes. Manufacturers adopted trade marks and began extensive advertising cam paigns. The money thus spent was wasted un less the product was of uniform quality. Man ufacturers, therefore, gave closer attention to the work done in the shops of their contract ors. In many cases one of the lofts in the fac tory building was rented to the contractor, and this practice continues, a shop so situated being called an inside shop. To secure better work manship, the contract system has been more and more abandoned, and in many of the larger factories all work is done under one roof by labor that the manufacturer directly employs. In Rochester splendid clothing factory buildings have been erected, and in the larger cities there are now factory buildings with all needful sani tary arrangements. Of the 4,830 establishments making clothing for men and boys in 1914, the 2,331 regular factories had 123,939 wage-earn ers and the 2,499 contract shops had 49,808. Corresponding figures for establishments mak ing clothing for women and children were: regular factories, 4,470, with 151,950 wage earners; contract shops, 1,094, with 16,957. Of the 510,595 wage-earners in the whole clothing industry, reported by the 1914 census of manu facturers, the males and females 16 years of age and over were respectively 36.1 and 62.6 per cent; and workers under that age, 1.3 per cent. Women, who operated sewing machines exclusively, were gradually supplanted as op erators to a large extent by Hebrew men who, in the early 80's, began to come in large numbers from Europe. Women are still largely employed for hand-finishing, which consists mostly of felling. Cutters and pressers have always been men. Few children have ever been employed in the industry. During recent years working conditions have been greatly improved, partly through legislation and partly by agree ments of labor unions with manufacturers or manufacturers' associations. Working-day hours have decreased and sweat-shops practi cally no longer exist. Of the wage-earners in the whole industry, those that worked where the prevailing hours of labor per week were 54 or less were 58.1 per cent in 1909 and 90.2 in 1914. Despite the decrease in working hours, the earnings of employees have increased. In all branches of the industry nearly all em ployees are paid for piece-work, instead of wages, and they, as well as the manufacturers; prefer the piece-work system, mainly because the workers differ so greatly in skill and speed.